What to do to make traffic stops go smoothly

It may have happened to you, maybe even more than once… getting pulled over. There are things you can do to make the interaction with law enforcement go as smoothly and quickly as possible. In this month’s Drivers Ed with Debbie, she has some tips if you get pulled over.

It’s frustrating, nerve-wracking, and frankly can spook you out a bit. It’s getting pulled over. Happens to the best of us, but there are ways to make this experience a little less stressful.

So backstory. Driving into work one morning, a few weeks ago, I saw lights behind me. I pulled over, and here’s where I thought, what can I do to help make this go as quickly as possible?

“Well, the first most important thing that you can do is pay attention to your surroundings at all times. And as soon as you see emergency lights, immediately pull over to the right and come to a complete stop.”

Recently, Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt gave me a rundown of what happens at a typical traffic stop.

“What we want you to do is remain calm, stay in your vehicle, never exit unless asked to do so by a law enforcement officer,” explains Schmidt.

The officer will then come to your window and identify themselves. And why you were pulled over.

Schmidt says, “What makes us a little bit more at ease is if you take a little bit of time to keep your hands visible. Maybe if it’s dark out, turn on your dome light. And just have that courteous conversation back and forth.”

I did just that at my stop, and I like to think the officer was pleasantly surprised, because not too many people think of doing that. But let’s put it this way. If you were that officer, you’d want to know exactly what was in that car as you were walking up to it.

“Additionally, what we’re asking you to do is not go digging around in the vehicle, says Schmidt.

And law enforcement knows you want to be prepared with your license and registration. But they really don’t know what you’re digging for, and let’s face it, they don’t always deal with the most cooperative of people. So to keep everyone as calm and as relaxed as possible, keep the hands at 10 and 2 on the wheel.

After they take your information, they’ll go back to their squad, do a background check, and make sure everything is okay. If they have to give you a citation, the officer will come back and tell you what the next step will be.

Schmidt explains, “That officer will tell you what the violation you’re being cited for was, the date and time of the court date, because you’re never guilty until proven so in a court of law. We’ll give you the amount that you may have to pay and if it’s a warning, we’re going to explain to you what obligations you have from that point forward.”

So if you have to get a light fixed, for example, they may give you something like 10 days to get it corrected. And there was something else I didn’t know about.

“Typically, if you need to get that corrected, you can go to any law enforcement agency throughout the state of Wisconsin, have them check it, sign it, and then return it to that agency that issued it initially, which will be printed right on that warning,” says Schmidt.

Incidentally, I got a verbal warning that I had a taillight out, and I was truly grateful since I would have never known it was out if he hadn’t told me.

After following these steps, I was actually on my way in less than 10 minutes. No fuss, no muss, and wiser for the interaction. (I did get the light fixed the moment I got out of work that day.)

AND… the whole “thing” about law enforcement officers having a quota of violations they have to fulfill… that’s a complete fallacy… urban legend. It’s even in the Wisconsin State Statute right here.

Plenty of information, but if you look at the situation from the officer’s point of view, the things you can do to make the stop go smoothly is really common sense and courtesy.

TOP HEADLINES FROM THE 620 WTMJ NEWS TEAM:

READ: Can 14 strangers from Wisconsin find common ground on abortion?